Does anyone have information regarding the following: Say you get a sphincterotomy. You don't immediately suffer from fecal incontinence. But later on in life, the incontinence presents itself.

I would hypothesise that a sphincterotomy accelerates the degeneration of the sphincter as you age, meaning that you have a much higher chance of suffering from fecal incontinence later on in life if you have undergone a sphincterotomy.

"Diseases or injuries are not the only risks for incontinence. As you age, many physical changes will occur naturally. These changes have an effect throughout the body including on the organs, nerves, and muscles that control continence. Muscles will lose their strength, some nerves will function less well, and tissue and organs will lose some of their ability to stretch." http://www.aboutincontinence.org/incont ... aging.html


"Damage to sphincter muscles can occur during rectal surgery or in childbirth in which episiotomy or forceps are used. In cases of damaged sphincter muscles, fecal incontinence may not show up until later in life. "[Women] have healthier tissues that compensate for lack of muscle function and so on," says Rao. "A woman who would normally become incontinent at age 80, once she has an obstetrical injury may become incontinent at age 45."" http://www.aplaceformom.com/senior-care-resources/articles/fecal-incontinence


What are everyone's thoughts on this?

I know that after LIS your sphincter is more relaxed but after about a year it returns to at least 80-90% of what it was before LIS so it will tighten up a bit again. I've had LIS and advancement flaps done, after LIS I had no leakage after the flaps I had some for a while, and that goes away as things heal and settle down.

I was worried about this too. I am scheduled for LIS, haven't had it yet and I'm only 24. But my doctor assured me that if my anal sphincter gone is much higher than normal, the LIS should just bring it to normal levels - so I don't think in that case one would be much more likely to experience incontonence than the average person. And most who have LIS do have a high sphincter tone.

I noticed that leakage problem after LIS is under reported and surgeon most of the times did not inform patient on the risks.

I hope this forum can raise more awareness to avoid ppl go through this unnecessary surgery if possible.

If you have done LIS before

1. Please state number of years of your surgery
2. Do you have leakage problem?
3. When the leakage get started?
3. If yes, how does the leakage problem happened? is it after pass motion?
4. When the leakage happened, are you aware? or you do no know until you find out during next toilet visit?
5. How frequent the leakage? Daily? or intermittent depending on the stool
6. If you dont mind, please state your age, sex, married, any child birth delivery